Jasper vs Bismuth
by Interspark
Summary: In an Alternate Universe, Smokey Quartz is able to defeat Jasper before she fuses with a corrupted Gem, and shares her fate. After learning about Pink Diamond, Steven feels a great swell of sympathy for Jasper, and likens her to another hot-blooded Gem, imprisoned in the temple. Although they're mortal enemies, Bismuth and Jasper might just be exactly what one another needs.
1. Chapter 1

"I will _not_ be beaten by another fusion!"

Jasper raced across the sand to her captive corruption, secured in her makeshift prison. Fusing with a corruption filled Jasper with disgust, but it was still preferable to losing to _her_...

Jasper's outstretched hand was inches away from the corruption's head, when Smokey Quartz's yo-yo flew around her torso, ensnaring her with the string and slamming into her face. With a heavy from the grey fusion, Jasper went flying overhead, and slammed into the Beta Kindergarten wall.

Exhausted and weary, Jasper climbed shakily to her feet. "No matter what you do, I will never give up! I have nothing left to lose, after everything you took from me, ROSE!"

Smokey frowned irritably. "Dude! For the last time, Rose is gone!" A tremer in their voice betrayed the pain behind Smokey's anger. They pointed at themself, Steven's gem and Amethyst's gem with all three of their arms. "Smokey, Steven and Amethyst! That's it!"

Jasper charged at Smokey, attempting to punch their yo-yos away as she was bombarded with attacks. "She isn't gone!" Jasper desperately insisted. Smokey almost thought there was a trace of pain hidden beneath Jasper's anger, too. "She can't be! Hunting her down is all I have left!" She shrieked.

Jasper lunged clumsily with her fist, and Smokey leapt into the air above her, span rapidly and brought all three yo-yos slamming into their opponent. There was an explosion of sand, accompanied by the burst of white smoke which accompanied a Gem's form destabilising.

When the smoke and sand cleared, Jasper's small, diamond-shaped gem lay helplessly at the bottom of a crater left in the sand. Smokey landed nimbly nearby and, with a sigh of relief, Steven and Amethyst separated. Peridot climbed down from the ridge from which she had watched the fight, and stood at their side.

"Well that was... an unexpected turn of events." She noted.

Amethyst climbed down to Jasper, and reluctantly bubbled her. "Come here, sis..."

-x-x-x-

Steven lay in his bed, soaked in the moonlight shining in through the window, wide-awake. He had just returned from earth's orbit, after his second visit to the Diamond Base on the moon, where he had been forced to deal with a heart-breaking truth.

Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond...

Suddenly, everything Jasper said and did made sense. He thought of how Peridot spoke of Yellow Diamond, and imagined how devastated she would have been, if her matriarch had been shattered, prior to her defection. Furthermore, what if Jasper was actually right to adore Pink Diamond? Certainly, she had been an enemy to life on earth, but she may have treated her Gems like her own children, for all Steven knew.

He thought of Jasper, trapped in a bubble, possibly forever. Even if they found a cure of corruption, what would they do with her? Of course, she wasn't the only non-corrupted Gem in the Burning Room, Bismuth was there too. In many ways, the two were similar, identical, even. They were passionate, hot-blooded, and fiercely loyal to the Gems they cared about.

Having never lost anyone, as Jasper had, Steven couldn't say that the way she behaved was unusual, or even wrong, and while Steven disagreed with Bismuth's code of ethics, it was clear that shattering a Gem had been necessary, to end the war. Steven sighed, every blink of his Cookie Cat alarm clock indicated a second of unjust imprisonment for the two Gems.

Steven sat upright and placed his feet on the floor. He had an idea, a terrible idea, a downright stupid, implausible, reckless and dangerous idea, which is what any of the other Gems would tell him if he shared it with them, even Amethyst, nevertheless, it was the only way the two furious Gems had a chance of finding peace.

After quickly changing into his day clothes. Steven raced light-footed over to the temple door where, with a couple of minutes of focusing on his need to enter, the door chimed in response. A pink rose expanded outwards from the star in the centre, and a familiar sea of pink clouds awaited beyond. Steven ran inside.

"Hey room." The hybrid politely greeted. "Sorry to hit and run, but I need a re-do of that time with Peridot. Basement please!"

Just as they had before, the clouds parted, and the vein-like beam, leading through the heart of the temple appeared. Steven ran over to it and dived down into the temple's depths. Steven did his best to be stealthy, but fortunately, he didn't run into any of the Crystal Gems, on his path to the basement.

Steven walked into Garnet's Burning Room, and looked up at the hundreds of bubbled Gems, floating above him. It took a few minutes of scouring, and two careful leaps towards the ceiling, but eventually, Steven held two bubbles, a pink one, with Bismuth's square, helical gem, and a purple one, containing the much smaller, orange Jasper.

"Hey guys..." Steven solemnly greeted. "Don't worry, we're gonna work this out... together..."


	2. Chapter 2

The sun shone merrily down on a bleak and desolate landscape, the air shimmering slightly in the intense heat. There was very little foliage to be seen, and the ground was dry and cracked. The only landmark in sight, was a large, stone structure, resembling a water fountain, except instead of water coming out of the top, it displayed a floating purple crystal, impeccably cut, shining, and rotating slowly, while gently bobbing up and down.

With a distorted roar, a portal opened up, and Steven's pink lion came leaping out, with his human friend atop his back. Once Lion had come to a halt, Steven climbed down from his back, and retrieved Jasper and Bismuth's bubbled gems from within his mane.

The structure was known as a Homeworld Denavigator. The Gems had taken Steven here once before, on a mission, and Pearl had explained its purpose. All Gems had an in-built sense of direction, which functioned like a sub-atomic compass, instinctively telling them where North was. The Denavigator scrambled this sense, and made it impossible for any Gem within its radius to find her way out, under her own power. They were pitfalls Homeworld had placed across earth randomly, during the war, to capture rebels. This was the last remaining one.

Unfortunately, there were several migratory birds, native to earth, which had a similar navigation system, and as such, the coarse ground was littered with bones, of various sizes. Fortunately, natural selection had soon stepped in, and there were no fresh bodies.

Steven looked at the two Gems. If Jasper and Bismuth were to help each other, it would have to be somewhere they couldn't leave, and where they'd have nothing to use to hurt each other with, besides their own fists. In other words, here. The only thing left to decide, was who to release first. Releasing them both at the same time seemed like a recipe for disaster (more so than individually, at the very least). Steven knew where he stood with Bismuth, however necessary, shattering was very distasteful to him, and he strongly disapproved of the blue Gem's enthusiasm for it. Jasper on the other hand, Steven felt a great swell of sympathy for. He needed to talk to her privately. If he was ever to have a chance to persuade her than he wasn't Rose, and that he was sorry for what she had been through, it would be now.

With a sigh, Steven released Bismuth's bubble, letting her float at eye level, and popped Jasper's. Steven's heart pounded anxiously as the orange gem glowed, and he fought his instinct to summon his shield. The new form Jasper took was very similar to her last. The darker orange stripes which adorned her arms were now thinner and more numerous, and the red, boot-like parts of her legs now extended to above her knees.

Jasper's feet hit the ground with a thud, and a crackle or bird bones breaking. She blinked several times, as her eyes adjusted, before they fell on Steven.

"Rose..." She snarled. "What kind of twisted game are you playing, letting me reform!? If you had any sense of self-preservation, you'd have shattered me when you had the chance..."

Steven wanted to talk about Pink Diamond, but he had to make one last attempt to convince Jasper that he and Rose were two different people. If Jasper heard Pink Diamond's shatterer, speaking so ignorantly of her, it would only enrage her further.

"Jasper, please... I'm not Rose!" Steven implored Jasper to understand.

Jasper took a threatening step forwards, but, quick as a flash, Lion stood at Steven's side, his eyes glowing brightly, and growling intimidatingly. Jasper spared the feline a glance, and didn't take another step, but didn't back off either.

"You've taken a new form... with a new voice... maybe even new memories... but one way or another, underneath that _ridiculous_ layer of fibers..." She pointed at Steven's shirt. "…is the gem of my enemy, plain as day!"

"But memories are a big part of who we are, maybe everything!" Steven argued. "You're admitting I'm not the same as the Rose you knew!"

Jasper folded her arms. "I'm admitting that I don't care... Rose Quartz needs to pay for her crimes, and she... you... aren't getting off the hook, just because you forgot what they are..."

Steven sighed, that was probably as good as he was going to get, as far as persuading Jasper that he wasn't his mom. "I only just found out about... Pink Diamond..."

Steven could almost see the flames burning in Jasper's furious eyes, her emotions changed from frustration to rage like the flip of a switch. She summoned her helmet and, with a furious battle cry, lunged at Steven, head-first. Steven countered with his shield, just managing to halt Jasper's motion, before Lion sent her flying, with a shock wave-inducing roar.

Jasper flew backwards across the dusty ground, and rolled helplessly, before coming to rest, on her front. She propped herself up and glared at Steven. "Don't you _dare_ tell me that you forgot about her! You took away the most perfect Gem in the universe! You don't get to just let go of that burden! Not until I take it from you by shattering your gem!"

"Jasper, I don't want to fight anymore!" Steven angrily cried.

"Then you shouldn't have let me reform... Fighting is all I'm good for!" Jasper cried, climbing to her feet and preparing another attack.

"I know you think that..." Steven acknowledged. "Which is why I brought someone who _will_ want to fight you. Jasper... I want you to meet one of the original Crystal Gems..."

While Jasper watched cautiously, Steven reached out and popped Bismuth's bubble. The square gem fell to the ground, before the gleaming light that would become Bismuth's new form began to shine. Like Jasper, Bismuth's changes were subtle, but somewhat more deliberate and symbolic. The black tattoo of a star on her left shoulder was gone, as was the red, star-like pattern on the front of her apron. Whatever consciousness Bismuth had put into selecting her new form clearly didn't consider herself a Crystal Gem any more, much to Steven's disappointment.

"Wh... Ro... Steven?" She groggily greeted Steven, as she came to. "You let me out..." Bismuth almost sounded grateful, but her expression quickly became serious and somber. "Nothing's changed kid... If you still want to keep me from doing what has to be done, you'd better hope you can beat me twice..."

"I don't have to..." Steven said, reluctantly. "She will..."

Steven nodded to the space behind Bismuth, and she span around, noticing Jasper for the first time. The two brutish Gems eyed each other up, cautiously. Bismuth quickly noticed the yellow diamond pattern, where the black lines along the neck of Jasper's shirt met, and Jasper saw the way Bismuth was looking at her, because of it.

"Bismuth, meet Jasper..." Steven cautiously offered. "Jasper... Bismuth..."


	3. Chapter 3

"You're a fighter..." Jasper noticed, before Bismuth had said a word to her. "Or at least, you think you are. Only a Crystal Gem Bismuth could be so deluded..."

The two Gems began slowly circling each other, their eyes locked.

"Used to be..." Bismuth angrily corrected. "Now I hate Homeworld fascists for my own reasons..."

"Haha, okaaay..." Steven awkwardly interjected. "Now, I wanted you two to meet each other, because even though you were on opposite sides of..."

"So, you have the gall to stand against the Diamonds, personally!?" Jasper snarled, oblivious to Steven's attempts to make peace. "Then you're even worse than the dull gravel who let Rose Quartz manipulate them!"

Bismuth laughed cruelly. "The Crystal Gems were being manipulated!? I'm hearing this from a Homeworld Gem? The Gems who aren't even allowed thoughts in their heads, without a shinier Gem giving them the go ahead?"

"Diamonds are _made_ to be served!" Jasper roared. "Just as we were made to serve them!"

"Well take it up with my kindergartener..." Bismuth spat, as she morphed one of her hands into a semi-circular blade. "I don't care what I was made for, I live for ME!"

As soon as Bismuth armed herself, Jasper did the same, summoning her helmet once more. Steven backed nervously away from their path. A small part of him still wanted to try and talk the Gems into a peaceful resolution, but ultimately, the reason he had brought the two Gems here, was so they could get the violence out of their systems first.

Sure enough, Jasper and Bismuth lunged at each other, almost simultaneously. Bismuth's free hand took the form of a shield, and Jasper flew, head-first, into it, causing a shock wave that almost blew Steven off his feet. Bismuth brought her knee up into Jasper's torso, sending her flying backwards. The two shot forwards again, and this time, locked arms, each attempting to wrestle the other to the ground. After a few seconds of frantic brawling, Jasper acrobatically leant backwards, span around and hurled Bismuth over her shoulder.

Climbing to her feet, Bismuth swung her bladed arm overhead. It elongated, arching upwards, and down on Jasper, slamming into the ground, moments after the orange Gem rolled out of the way. Bismuth continued lashing with her stretching arms, but Jasper has too quick. She jumped and dived and rolled, slowly closing the gap between herself and Bismuth, never getting grazed by the Bismuth's predictable attacks.

Bismuth's arms retracted, moments before Jasper came in for the kill, and the two of them rapidly began trading punches. Jasper was more evasive than Bismuth, and was able to avoid more blows but, despite Jasper's strength, Bismuth's form was made to resist damage. For a gem that bathed in lava, it would take a lot of punches from Jasper, to jeopardise her form.

Eventually, Jasper landed a punch on the palm of Bismuth's waiting hand. Bismuth violently grabbed hold of Jasper's fist and, with a spin of her torso, hurled her towards the floating crystal, that was the denavigator. Before Jasper made contact, a spherical forcefield manifested, shielding the device, and sending Jasper hurtling back towards the dusty ground.

Before she could recover, Bismuth leapt towards her opponent, adding gravity to the force behind the punch she threw at her floored adversary. Jasper rolled out of the way with barely a second to spare, dodging Bismuth's fist, which left a crater, where she had been lying.

The fight waged on for hours, the two Gems were so consumed by their passion and anger, they didn't notice that Steven and his lion had left, almost as soon as the fight began. The two stood, silhouetted by the setting sun, hyperventilating, and their forms covered in dust and the Gem equivalent of bruises, trading increasingly lethargic punches.

As the last of the sunlight was fading, both Gems sighed loudly and, like very gradually chopped trees, they slowly collapsed backwards with a crash.

"This... is pointless..." Jasper groaned. "I don't know who you are, but I know you're not worth my time... I need to get out of here... I need to find Rose..."

"Man, you know Rose is gone, right?" Bismuth sighed. "I mean, I don't know what's going on with that Steven kid, but trust me... he ain't her..."

"Trust you...!?" Jasper snarled.

"Yes... Trust me." Bismuth indignantly repeated. "I may not be a Homeworld Gem, but I got no love of Rose Quartz either."

With a groan of effort, Bismuth climbed to her feet. Jasper did the same, defensively, but Bismuth turned her back on her, and walked away, staring solemnly at what she could still see of the rapidly darkening desert.

"So, what's your beef with Rose, hot shot?" Bismuth asked, curiously. "And don't tell me you're following orders, because I see that look in your eyes."

"You don't know...?" Jasper growled, angrily.

Bismuth turned to face her. "I don't know much of anything, since I had a run-in with Rose a few thousand years ago. Been in a bubble ever since..."

Jasper gave a cruel smirk, as though relishing the pain she could hypothetically cause, by telling Bismuth what her leader had done, but of course, it hurt Jasper too, just to talk about.

"What look?" Jasper asked.

"Same look in the eyes of every Crystal Gem I ever met." Bismuth said, smirking herself. "And the one I've never seen in a Homeworld Gem... before you..."

"What... look!?" Jasper angrily repeated, resenting the comparison.

"The look of a Gem who's fighting... living... for the things she believes in." Bismuth said, grinning approvingly. "You say you serve the Diamonds, but I can tell that the reason you're here... the reason you hate Rose... that's all you."

"Well it would be..." Jasper's voice quivered with rage. "I serve Yellow Diamond because I have to... because the only Diamond I was undyingly loyal to... was SHATTERED BY ROSE QUARTZ!"

In a second, the grin melted off Bismuth's face, her arms hung limp at her sides and she stared at Jasper.

"What...?" She whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure we're doing this right?" Lapis asked, somewhat irritably. "This is boring..."

"We can't be!" Peridot replied. "There's no way THIS is a popular earth sport!"

Lapid and Peridot sat on the ground in front of their barn, with a network of domino tiles on the ground between them. Peridot scrolled through the rules for the game, on her tablet, and muttered what she was reading, under her breath.

"What the... we ARE playing it right!" Peridot remarked, outraged. "Every time I start to think humans aren't brainless clods, they come up with BORING TRASH LIKE THIS!"

Peridot angrily kicked several of the tiles away, and began stomping on the rest of them, embedding them in the soil. Lapis was smirking at Peridot's tantrum, when a glowing, pink portal appeared, next to the barn, from which Lion leapt out, with Steven on his back.

"Steven!" Peridot excitedly greeted.

"Hey Steven." Lapis said, far more casually.

"Hi guys!" Steven returned the two Gems' greetings, as he dismounted Lion and ran over. "Hey Lapis, do you mind if I talk to Peridot alone for a sec?"

Lapis seemed somewhat concerned. "Sure... is... everything okay?"

"Yeah..." Steven awkwardly began. "It's just... it's about... Jasper." He said, quietly.

"Oh..." Lapis replied, her eyelids fluttered, in response to the name. "Okay."

The stress was clear on Lapis' voice, but before Steven or Peridot could console her, she manifested her wings, and flew to the truck, imbedded in the wall of the barn, above the door.

"Oh boy..." Peridot sighed. "I hope she's okay." She sighed and looked at the truck for a moment, before regaining her composure. "Anyway, what's this about Jasper? How much trouble can she be causing, from inside a bubble?"

Steven rubbed the side of his arm, awkwardly. "Well... I kind of... let her out."

Peridot's reaction was nothing less than Steven had expected. "You did _WHAT_!?"

"Peridot, it's okay! I left her at a Homeworld Denavigator! She's not going anywhere."

Peridot calmed down, just slightly. "But... even so! Why!?"

"Well, I left her with this Crystal Gem who my mom bubbled before the end of the war, because, well... she's just as angry as Jasper is... I sorta hoped they could knock some sense into each other..."

"That's so reckless!" Peridot criticised. "What if they tear each other apart?"

"That's kinda why I'm here. Can we use one of your drones, to watch them?" Steven asked.

Peridot reluctantly agreed, and the two of them prepared one of Peridot's handmade drones, a small, green sphere with a camera lens and a helicopter propeller, and connected it to her tablet. With a prompt from Steven, Lion gave a faint growl, and a tiny, pink portal appeared, through which Peridot flew her drone.

Meanwhile, in the desert, Jasper and Bismuth had just concluded their fight, and collapsed onto the dusty ground, when Peridot's drone flew out of Lion's portal, and hovered behind the stone base of the denavigator, peeking around it, at the two Gems.

"It's working! Look, they're actually talking!" Steven happily whispered to Peridot, even though Jasper and Bismuth couldn't hear them.

Eventually, Jasper dropped her bomb on Bismuth.

"…because the only Diamond I was undyingly loyal to... WAS SHATTERED BY ROSE QUARTZ!"

"What...?" Came Bismuth's whispered reply. "She did... _WHAT_!?"

Jasper scowled. "What's the matter? You don't like that? How did you think your little rebellion was going to end? You honestly thought there was any other way the Diamonds would back off!?"

Bismuth was trembling, her fists clenched and her dreadlocks cast a dark shadow over her eyes. "You don't understand..." Bismuth replied, in a terrifying whisper. "I was always prepared to shatter our enemies... And not just Pink Diamond, but Yellow, Blue, White... I was going to free all Gems from their tyranny! But Rose said no... She bubbled me away for wanting to do what needed to be done... AND THEN SHE DID IT HERSELF!"

Bismuth gave a cry of fury and punched the ground at her feet. Fractures ran though the dirt and even Jasper trembled slightly.

"Did she use it...?" Bismuth asked, after a few seconds of heavy breathing.

"Use what?" Jasper asked, her own anger temporarily quelled, as she processed these new developments.

"The Breaking Point..." Bismuth replied. "The wrist-mounted weapon with the cone-shaped point. The weapon she bubbled me for wanting to use..."

"Witnesses say she used a sword." Jasper said. "But still... I always hated Rose for being a murderous traitor, but I never knew she was such a hypocrite..."

"Tell me about it..." Bismuth replied, staring at the fracture she had made.

Back at the barn, Steven felt the sting of the two Gems' words, as they spoke ill of his mother, but, as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't dispute anything they said.

"Wait... What are they talking about?" Peridot asked, turning to Steven. "Rose Quartz is the one who shattered Pink Diamond?"

Peridot didn't sound stunned or appalled. She used the same tone of voice a human child would use, upon discovering a mildly interesting, historical fact.

"You didn't know?"

"I'm an Era 2 Gem... I hardly know anything about the war, or Pink Diamond."

Back in the desert, silence had fallen once more. The two Gems had enjoyed a second of bonding over a mutual hatred of Rose Quartz, but the knowledge that they were enemies wasn't forgotten for long.

"Do you regret it?" Jasper eventually said. "Siding with Rose Quartz, I mean."

It took Bismuth a moment to answer. "No... Without her, I'd still be working for the Diamonds, building spires and towers..."

"Why do you have such a problem with that?" Jasper asked, sounding irritated and annoyed, but not angry. "You were made to build! You're inherently good at it!"

Bismuth reluctantly grinned and rolled her eyes. "I'm the best! But that doesn't mean I enjoy it... I mean, you're lucky. You love to fight, and you were made to fight, but you gotta understand that those are two separate things! Some Jaspers HATE violence, and some domestic Gems love to fight."

"You mean like that Pearl...?" Jasper scowled.

"Ha, you met Pearl?" Bismuth asked, considerably cheered up, just by her friend's name. "Ain't she something? You'd never guess a Gem of her cut could fight like that."

"We... never fought one on one..." Jasper said, flinching slightly as she remembered the beatdown Alexandrite had given Malachite.

"You're lucky!" Bismuth laughed. "Me and her used to spar back in the day, trust me, you do NOT want to get on her bad side."

At the barn, Steven and Peridot nervously watched the two talk.

"It looks like they're calming down..." Peridot admitted. "But do you really think they'll stay like that when you let them go?"

Steven sighed. "I hope so..."


	5. Chapter 5

The hours wore on, and Bismuth and Jasper continued to precariously coexist. Every now and then, one would say something which offended the other, and they would brawl again, inevitably ending in a draw, their fights grew increasingly brief, as their futility dawned on them.

Steven had sent a text message to his dad, with a request for it to be relayed to the Gems. He explained that he would be staying at the barn for the night, and that they needn't worry. Eventually, Steven fell asleep in the grass outside the barn, after Peridot promised to wake him up if there were significant developments.

Peridot was lying on the ground, resting her head on her hand, regularly sighing out of boredom, when Lapis silently landed next to her, beyond the green Gem's field of vision.

"Hey Peridot." She said, quietly.

Peridot yelped in alarm, just quietly enough to avoid waking Steven. "L... Lapis! Are you okay? What's up?"

Lapis nodded towards Peridot's tablet. "What are they doing?"

Peridot had briefly and carefully explained to Lapis what she and Steven were doing, after Lapis had spent a couple of hours, confusedly watching her friends staring at Peridot's tablet. Discovering that Jasper was free of her bubble had been especially alarming for the blue Gem, even with the knowledge that she was still contained. She had retreated to the barn, to be by herself, until now.

"Well they're... I mean she's... Lapis, are you sure you want to...?" Peridot awkwardly began.

Lapis rolled her eyes and lifted the tablet out of Peridot's hands. In the desert, Jasper and Bismuth were sitting on the ground, staring into the distance, in different directions. The sun was rising, and Jasper was idly playing with the bones littering the ground.

"Earlier... you said that you would have been prepared to shatter the Diamonds..." Jasper said, breaking a lengthy silence. "All of them."

"Yeah, what of it?" Bismuth replied, she didn't sound proud of her decision, but her resolve was unflinching.

"Most of the Crystal Gems I fought in the war just wanted to be... free..." Jasper cringed at the word. "Even Rose Quartz only did what she had to do to save this rock... as despicable as she was... Why did you want to take it so far!?"

Bismuth turned to look at Jasper. "Hey, don't get me wrong, man, I love the earth. The animals, the plants, the water coming out of the sky, and they got this thing called 'pizza' now, maaan..." Bismuth rolled her eyes in delight as she recalled the experience. "But earth wasn't what I was fighting for."

"Then what?"

"Freedom..." Bismuth sighed, as though frustrated Jasper didn't already understand. "Not just for me, not just for the Crystal Gems, but everyone! Every Gem in the universe, who has to do what they're told, instead of what they want. Even Gems like you..."

Jasper scowled and shot to her feet. "I don't need freedom! I live to serve the Diamonds, and I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Bismuth shot the other Gem a condescending look. "Really...?" She asked, incredulously. "So, you tell me something, hot shot. If the Diamonds called you right now, sent a ship and some snobby Zircon stepped out and told you, you were done, and had to go home, what would you do? Say you had Rose at your mercy, her gem in the palm of your hand, and the Diamonds told you to drop it and walk away, what then?"

Jasper frowned, as she considered it, running through the scenario in her mind. She couldn't deny the sting she would feel, the burning frustration of having to neglect her self-appointed purpose. Bismuth's words reminded Jasper of a conversation she had had with Peridot, as their ship was preparing to leave earth's atmosphere.

 _"I'm telling you we can't leave yet!"_ Peridot had whined, angrily. _"No matter how important you think this 'Rose Quartz' is, we can't just..."_

 _"NOTHING is more important than this!"_ Jasper roared, startling the smaller Gem. _"Rose Quartz is the mission now, so CAN IT!"_

 _"B... but we can't just ignore orders!"_ Peridot retorted, sounding frustrated.

 _"You want orders? Follow this one! Shut up and go fly the ship!"_

Peridot screwed her face up in frustration. _"I do not take orders from rock-headed clods like you!"_

Jasper rounded on Peridot and towered over her. _"What did you call me...?"_

Peridot uttered a panicked squeak and backed away nervously. _"I... I'm just saying... Yellow Diamond explicitly ordered a report on the Cluster, and if she wants to know why we don't have one, I'd like it on record that I wanted to complete our mission..."_

Even back then, Jasper had been nervous that she would be reprimanded for neglecting her orders. She had wanted to capture Rose Quartz so badly, but not for the Diamonds' happiness or approval. Jasper wanted Rose Quartz to suffer for what she had done, in the hopes that that would alleviate some of the pain Jasper had carried, since losing her own Diamond.

After what seemed like an age, Jasper answered Bismuth's question. "I wouldn't... I need to hunt down Rose, and make her pay for what she's done. Because... because that's what _I_ want to do..."

Jasper ground a handful of bird bones into powder. She had never before admitted that she was wrong, and another Gem was right, and she wasn't going to start now, even if she knew it was true. Even if they were very different, she and Bismuth were two Gems who were fighting for their own reasons, in spite of what the Diamonds wanted them to do.

Bismuth sighed sympathetically. "Well... hate to break it to ya, champ, but Rose is gone... That meatbag with her gem? That ain't her."

At the barn, Lapis had sat down, and she and Peridot were watching the tablet. Lapis tended to tense up whenever Jasper spoke, which would prompt Peridot to reassuringly squeeze her shoulder.

"How long are they going to stay there?" Lapis asked, quietly.

"I guess until Steven thinks they've calmed down enough." Peridot replied, with a shrug. "I can't speak for the Bismuth but... Jasper certainly seems more docile than I've ever known her to be..."

Peridot looked to Lapis, eager for her opinion, but not wanting to force it from her if she was uncomfortable.

"Yeah..." She agreed.

"I've had enough..." Jasper said, back in the desert. She rose to her feet and approached the Denavigator. "I'm not waiting around until Rose, or whoever she is, decides I can leave..."

Jasper threw a punch at the floating crystal. The forcefield burst into life, and although Jasper shuddered slightly, she stood her ground. The agitated, orange Gem threw punch after punch, but the forcefield showed no sign of yielding.

"Should we... wake up Steven?" Lapis proposed, watching the feed, nervously.

"Relax, that Denavigator might be an Era 1 relic, but it can't be shut down, just by punching it..." Peridot scoffed.

While Peridot spoke, Bismuth was telling Jasper the same thing. "It's an energy relay, I used to build these things. It takes the force from your punches and throws it back at you. The only way to shut it down is to press down from all angles, and THEN punch it."

Bismuth walked over and smirked at Jasper, suggestively.

"But... you can shapeshift! Are you telling me you could have shut this thing down at any time!?" Jasper demanded.

"No..." Bismuth replied, in a serious voice. "I'll have to put my all into crushing this thing. You know what that means, hot shot? I gotta trust you not to shatter me while I'm doing it."

Jasper stared at Bismuth in surprise. The only Gems who had ever trusted Jasper, were her commanders, who sent her into battle. Being trusted with another Gem's wellbeing, an enemy, no less, prompted a curious and unfamiliar feeling within the orange Gem.

"Look..." Bismuth sighed, sounding like she was about to be sincere, and wasn't looking forward to it. "I know how Homeworld Gems feel about their Diamonds, I used to be one, you know. I know you're in pain, and you think revenge will make you feel better, but that doesn't make you a bad Gem. So, yeah... I trust you. You ready for this?"

After a brief pause, Jasper nodded decisively. While Peridot and Lapis watched with increasing anxiety, Bismuth placed her hands against the forcefield, and seemed to melt into its surface. A pool of blueish violet spread across the glowing sphere and encompassed it. Bismuth's gem floated around the outside, like a leaf on a pond. She hadn't lied, she was entirely at Jasper's mercy. Jasper felt another surge of emotion, as the gem drifted past her.

Bismuth twitched as she constricted around the orb, and the gentle hum of the energy field became a grating whine. Once a white glow began to shine through Bismuth's spread out form, Jasper decided it was time. She lunged forwards, summoning her helmet, and flew, head first into the floating ball. Bismuth's form receded like ripples on water, and she quickly reformed, on the opposite side, from Bismuth's collision, looking disorientated and stunned. The spherical forcefield shone brightly, before shattering like glass, and fading away into wisps of light.

Jasper took hold of the floating crystal and began walking over to the still floored Bismuth. Despite the crystal being almost half her size, Jasper brought it down on her knee, shattering it with very little effort.

"You know... you probably shouldn't have trusted me." Jasper said, as she towered over her new acquaintance. "After all, I needed you, while we were trapped here... now I don't..."

The two Gems locked eyes, staring with suspicion and anger. Eventually, it was Jasper who smirked and broke eye contact, before holding her hand out to Bismuth. Bismuth laughed loudly and accepted Jasper's hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.

"You're all right, hot shot..." Bismuth said, punching Jasper's arm, playfully.

Back at the barn, Peridot was panicking.

"Oh my stars! OH MY STARS! They got out. They're free! They're LOOSE ON THE WORLD! STEVEN WAKE UP!"

Steven groaned as Peridot violently shook his shoulders and continued screaming. "Peridot... what...?"

"Steven, wake up! Jasper and Bismuth broke the Denavigator! They worked together, it was actually pretty sweet, but now THEY'RE LOOSE ON THIS DEFENCELESS PLANET!"

Once Peridot was finished, Steven was wide awake and sharing her alarm. It occurred to the two of them, at the same time, that Lapis may be upset about Jasper's newfound freedom. They turned around, to see the blue Gem staring at the horizon with a resolved frown on her face.

"Jasper's free..." She noted, in a quiet voice. "Good." She took a few steps towards the barn, before looking over her shoulder at her two, confused friends. "I am done running away from her..."

With a gesture from Lapis, a boulder of water lifted from the small pool, by the barn's entrance, and floated in the air, before shooting after Lapis, as she launched from the ground, and vanished towards the horizon.


	6. Chapter 6

Jasper and Bismuth barely had time to consider what was next for them, when a bolt of blue shot across the sky towards them, like lightning, before veering downwards, and colliding with the sand in front of them. When the resulting cloud of dust vanished, Lapis Lazuli stood, scowling furiously at Jasper, as two enormous fists, made of water, assembled behind her.

"Jasper..." Lapis practically hissed.

"You..." Jasper sounded surprised. "You're _still_ here? You could have gone back to Homeworld."

"You mean again!?" Lapis angrily retorted. "After you imprisoned me and dragged me back, last time!?"

"What are you doing here...?" Jasper asked, ignoring Lapis' accusation.

"I'm here to make sure you never hurt my friends again..."

Bismuth had been fixated on Lapis, since she landed, staring at her, as though confused. Just as Lapis pulled back one of her aquatic fists, ready to attack, Bismuth spoke up.

"Wait, I... I know you..." She gasped.

Lapis turned around to face Bismuth, and reacted instantly. She gasped loudly, stumbled backwards, and her fists dissolved into formless blobs of water, the surfaces of which trembled, like glasses of water in dinosaur movies. Lapis had barely taken her eyes of Jasper while watching the feed, but the Bismuth was right, they did know each other.

Over the course of a few seconds, Lapis' shocked expression gave way to fury. "YOU!" She screamed.

One of Lapis' orbs of water resumed the shape of a fist and flew at Bismuth, knocking her clean off her feet. The other rose into the air, and began pounding the violet Gem into the ground, each time she tried to stand up.

"Everything... that happened to me... was because... I got captured... BY YOU!" Lapis screamed, the ground shaking as she unleashed her powers on Bismuth.

Lapis prepared her most vicious assault yet. All of the water she had brought with her took the form of a spike-covered sphere, and hurtled at the floored Bismuth. Before it struck though, Jasper leapt forwards, rolling into a ball, and shot at Lapis' water like an orange cannonball. The water immediately lost its form, as Jasper exploded through it, and rained down on Bismuth, harmlessly.

Jasper span around, upon landing, and leapt to her feet, at Bismuth's side, where she quickly pulled her to her feet.

"So, it's all bullies together, is that it?" Lapis snarled. "You two brutes deserve each other!"

With a familiar echoing roar, a pink portal opened, next to Lapis, and Lion leapt out, with Steven and Peridot on his back.

"Lapis! What are you doing!?" Steven asked, as though surprised and disappointed in his friend's behavior.

"That's her, Steven!" Lapis said, pointing at Bismuth. "She's the reason I got stuck here, the reason I got trapped in a mirror! When I first came to earth, she took one look at me and pounced like a feral earth animal!"

"It's true..." Bismuth said, doubled over slightly, due to the damage she'd taken. "I didn't realise you weren't an enemy soldier until it was too late..."

"The pair of you ruined my life... and I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone, ever again!" Lapis shouted.

With a gesture from the blue Gem, the water rose out of the sand, murky and grey, and swallowed Jasper and Bismuth, before rising into the air, where the water began to swirl around them, with increasing speed.

"Lapis, what are you doing!?" Steven demanded.

"I'm dispersing them... and when I'm done, I'll bubble them somewhere where they'll never be set free, so I can protect this world from them!"

"No!" Steven pleaded. "Lapis, I know they both hurt you, and you got the worst of their bad sides, but that doesn't make them bad Gems! They were doing better!"

"What about me, Lapis, huh?" Peridot added. "I was awful to you, too, but you forgave me... right?"

"That's different! You're actually sorry, and you're not like them!" Lapis snapped. "Neither of you have been through what these brutes put me through, you can't know what it's like!"

"That doesn't mean this is right!" Steven insisted, pointing at the airborne vortex of water.

With everyone's attention on Lapis' water, nobody missed a second of the incredible scene that followed. An arm, dull grey, and the size of a train, with a studded wrist strap, erupted from the water with a clenched fist, followed, one after the other, by three more. Four hands, like satellite dishes, opened wide and clapped together with such ear-splitting force, that Lapis, Peridot, Steven and Lion were sent flying, backwards across the sand.

Lapis' water fell to the ground again, and, with a thud, so did the thing inside it. Not Jasper, not Bismuth, but a behemoth of a fusion, taller than Alexandrite and three times as thick, with muscles the size of her head. Her skin was grey, and she had four, glaring eyes. Her yellow hair cascaded down her back, featuring spaced out, orange dreadlocks. Her gems, on her chest and nose, were jet black.

She looked down at her hands, trembling slightly, and spoke with a booming voice. "What is... is this what fusion is normally like...? It's... different... I feel like Jasper's just gone and I'm..." She grinned happily. "ONYX!"

Lapis was the first to recover from the shock, her water leapt from the sand again, this time dividing into four fists, which flew at Onyx, with a barrage of punches. "You're... not... getting away from me!" She insisted.

Onyx backed away, lifting her fists defensively, occasionally striking back with a back hand, or meeting the fists, head on. With her stronger counter attacks, Onyx disrupted the very air in her fist's path, vapourising the water beyond even Lapis' salvation. Piece by piece, the colossal fusion obliterated Lapis' weapons, to the blue Gem's increasing desperation.

"You can't... stop me... I need to... make this... right!"

With the last of Lapis' water whizzing around her, inflicting very little damage, Onyx threw all four of her fists at her feet, sending a shock wave of sand in all directions, which sent Lapis flying backwards, towards her friends. Lapis rolled helplessly, before coming to a rest, where she lay still, trembling visibly.

"Lapis!" Peridot called, desperately, running over. "Are you okay!?"

Steven and Peridot helped Lapis into a sitting position, where it became apparent that tears were welling in her eyes.

"Everything I've been through... It can't have been for nothing...!" She wept. "They can't just get away with it!"

The ground trembled as Onyx walked over to the group, and knelt in the sand, in front of them. Peridot tore her eyes off Lapis, to look, fearfully, up at the towering fusion.

"I'm sorry..." Onyx eventually said, in a relatively quiet voice.

The group craned their necks, to look the fusion in the eye.

"What...?" Lapis said, in an angry whisper.

"Jasper... and Bismuth... They were both so focused on destroying their enemies, they never stopped to think about anyone else. Neither of them ever meant to hurt you. But I have to deal with the fact that the war is over now... I have to deal with what they've done..."

"You're gonna stay fused?" Peridot asked. From what she knew about Jasper, she was surprised that she was able to maintain a stable fusion.

"Those two idiots are way better at criticising each other than themselves." Onyx smirked.

Steven awkwardly stepped forwards, which was difficult, with his eyes pointing almost directly upwards. "What about... us?"

Onyx gave a loud sigh, which sounded like howling winds. "I can never forgive Rose Quartz... I still want her to pay for what she's done... But she's gone now... and I'll never have justice _or_ revenge. I gotta find a way to be okay with that... alone..."

With that, Onyx rose to her feet, and strode away, towards the horizon. Steven and Peridot hugged Lapis supportively, as they watched the towering figure recede, and the trembling of the ground faded away.


End file.
